STAC& 
AHNKX 


407 


nternational 

Bimetalism. 


A   PAPER   READ   BEFORE   THE 


California  Bankers  Association 

April  20,  1897 


AT  ITS 


Annual  Convention,   Held  at  Los  Angeles. 


BY 

JOHN  J.  VALENTINE 

PRESIDENT  OP 

WEU.S,  FARGO  &  COMPANY 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAI,. 


A   PAPER   READ   BEFORE  THE 


California  Bankers  Association 


April  20,  1897 


AT  ITS 


Annual  Convention,  Held  at  Los  Angeles, 


BY 

JOHN  J.  VALENTINE 

PRESIDENT   OF 

WELLS,    FARGO   &   COMPANY 

SAN    FRANCISCO,    CAL. 


THE  HICKS-JUDD  CO., 

PRINTERS,  BOOKBINDERS,  PUBLISHERS, 
23  FIRST  ST.,   S.   F.,  CAL. 


Mr.  Chairman  and  Members  of  the 

California  Bankers  Association: 
As  introductory  to  my  remarks  on  International 
Bimetalism  and  the  present  monetary  situation  per- 
mit me  to  quote  the  Republican  Party,  in  National 
Convention,  assembled  at  St.  Louis,  June  lyth  last, 
as  follows : 

"We  are  unalterably  opposed  to  every  measure 
calculated  to  debase  our  currency  or  impair  the 
credit  of  our  country.  We  are,  therefore,  opposed  to 
the  free  coinage  of  silver,  except  by  international 
agreement  with  the  leading  commercial  nations  of 
the  world,  which  we  pledge  ourselves  to  promote,  and 
until  such  agreement  can  be  obtained  the  existing 
gold  standard  must  be  preserved.  All  our  silver  and 
paper  currency  must  be  maintained  at  parity  with 
gold,  and  we  favor  all  measures  designed  to  maintain 
inviolably  the  obligations  of  the  United  States,  and 
all  our  money,  either  coin  or  paper,  at  the  present 
standard,  the  standard  of  the  most  enlightened  na- 
tions of  the  earth." 

On  January  2Oth  a  well-known  English  writer  on 
economic  subjects  wrote  me  from  London: 

"  Senator  Wolcott  has  just  arrived  here,  and  it  is 
said  that  he  has  a  mission  from  Mr.  McKinley.  You 
may  rest  perfectly  sure  that  neither  the  Senator  nor 
anybody  else  will  persuade  the  English  people  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  bimetalism.  The  Sena- 
tor will  be  received  well,  personally,  because  from 
everything  we  know  of  him  we  believe  him  to  be  a 
gentleman.  But  he  will  very  soon  find  out  for  him- 

20O352O 


self  that  the  English  Birnetalists  are  a  weak  party, 
who  make  a  great  deal  of  noise  but  have  exceedingly 
little  influence." 

And  on  February  2  ad  a  leading  banker  of  Ber- 
lin wrote  me: 

"  I  met  Senator  Wolcott  a  few  days  ago  at  dinner, 
when  he  told  Dr.  Koch,  the  President  of  the  Bank  of 
the  Empire,  that  unless  a  solution  was  found  for  the 
silver  question  the  next  election  in  the  United  States 
would  in  his  judgment  undoubtedly  go  for  free  silver. 
Let  us  hope  that  this  may  prove  an  erroneous  party 
view." 

In  March  the  public  press  reported  that 

l<  The  House,  by  a  majority  of  282  votes,  passed 
the  Senate  bill  authorizing  the  President  to  call  a 
conference  of  foreign  authorities  to  cooperate  with 
the  United  States  in  establishing  an  international 
ratio  in  the  proportional  prices  between  gold  and 
silver.  Meanwhile  Senator  Wolcott  has  returned 
from  his  delightful  trip.  He  was  'treated  like  a 
prince '  in  England,  was  l  received  with  open  arms 
by  the  economists  of  Germany,'  and  actually  assured 
that  '  if  he  could  win  over  England,  Germany  would 
then  be  glad  to  take  the  subject  up  again.' ' 

To  accomplish  this  task  Messrs.  Wolcott,  Steven- 
son and  Paine  have  been  appointed  commissioners. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  occupy  your  time  and 
attention  with  a  speculative  forecast  of  the  mis- 
chievous subtleties  and  embarrassing  intricacies  of 
International  Bimetalism  as  proposed  by  its  advo- 
cates, but  to  offer  some  of  the  most  studied  opinions 


and  shrewdest  judgments  of  financial  experts  as  to 
its  chances  for  general  adoption.  Many  of  you  may 
know  I  have  treated  the  subject  at  some  length,  from 
an  historic  and  scientific  standpoint,  in  a  collection  of 
papers  published  during  the  recent  Presidential  cam- 
paign, reaching  the  conclusion  that  the  theory  of 
bimetalism  is  in  itself  unscientific  and  unsound, 
and  that  the  hope  of  procuring  concerted  action 
among  the  leading  nations  of  the  world  for  its  inter- 
national application  is  doomed  to  failure.  With 
the  facts  confronting  us  the  appointment,  by  the 
United  States  Government,  of  commissioners  to  visit 
Europe  in  the  interest  of  an  International  Conven- 
tion and  for  the  purpose  of  evangelizing  the  conserv- 
ative powers  of  Europe  to  the  doctrine  of  Inter- 
national Bimetalism,  on  the  basis  of  the  unlimited 
free  coinage  of  both  metals,  is  a  sheer  waste  of  time 
and  money.  And  no  time  should  be  lost  in  reform- 
ing the  monetary  agglomeration  of  these  United 
States.  To  call  the  make-shift,  patch-quilt  currency 
that  has  disturbed  this  country  for  more  than  thirty 
years  a  "financial  system"  is  a  misuse  of  descrip- 
tive terms. 

It  may  be  alleged  in  excuse  for  the  renewed  agita" 
tion  of  the  silver  question  that  good  faith  on  the  part 
of  the  present  national  administration  to  its  platform 
pledges  required  the  appointment  of  commissioners 
to  confer  directly  with  the  scattered  advocates  of 
International  Bimetalism  in  Europe,  but  the  most 
cursory  knowledge  as  to  the  steps  which  have  in  the 


past  forty  years  led  all  the  commercial  nations  of 
Europe  in  turn  to  adopt  the  gold  standard  should 
convince  every  reflective  person  of  the  utter  impracti- 
cability, not  to  say  impossibility,  of  securing  their 
co-operation  in  an  effort  to  undo  the  work  so  labori- 
ously accomplished,  and  enter  into  an  agreement  for 
the  unlimited  free  coinage  of  silver.  The  action  of 
Europe  in  adopting  the  gold  standard  was  not  pre- 
cipitate; the  discussion  really  began  with  the  gold 
discoveries  in  California  and  Australia,  about  the  fif- 
ties, became  general  by  1857,  an(i  tne  International 
Convention  in  Paris,  1867,  thirty  years  ago,  deter- 
mined the  question.  This  Convention  was  composed 
of  the  most  eminent  and  intelligent  financiers  and 
economists  of  twenty  governments  represented,  and 
their  conclusions  were  only  reached  after  giving  the 
subject  the  most  thorough  consideration.  From  that 
day  to  this  the  opinion  of  the  economical,  financial  and 
commercial  world  has  clarified  itself  in  favor  of  the 
gold  standard.  There  is  not  the  slightest  probability 
of  Great  Britain  or  the  European  powers  seriously 
considering  International  Bimetalism,  and  for  this 
country  to  say  that  a  ratio  of  sixteen  parts  of  silver 
to  one  of  gold  is  a  divinely  and  irrevocably  fixed 
relation  would  simply  be  to  make  ourselves  the 
laughing  stock  of  intelligent  people  throughout  the 
world.  As  Mr.  Tirard  substantially  said  in  the 
Brussels  Conference  in  1892,  "  they  can  hold  conven- 
tions, deliver  lectures,  and  orate,  but  what  power  has 
indicated  any  intentions  to  agree  to  the  free  coinage 


of  silver  ?  Not  one;  and  it  would  be  folly  to  do  so." 
And  I  will  add  it  is  all  moonshine.  The  quicker 
this  country  is  made  acquainted  with  the  real  facts 
affecting  this  subject  the  better  it  will  be  for  all 
concerned. 

I  am  not  unconscious  that  "  monetary  science  is  a 
vast  subject,  and  a  little  unsteadiness  of  nerve  may 
be  pardoned  when  one  is  navigating,  what  Petty 
called  two  centuries  ago,  the  deep  ocean  of  all  the 
mysteries  concerning  money;  when  one  is  dealing 
with  such  a  subject,  which  can  well  be  pictured  as  a 
morass  of  problems,  intersected  by  a  few  safe  paths, 
easy  to  walk  on,  but  also  easy  to  stray  from." 

Within  a  period  of  say  five  minutes,  I  have  sum- 
marized my  own  views  upon  this  momentous  ques- 
tion, but  these  may  be  deemed  simply  opinions, 
therefore  I  wish  to  submit  evidence.  I  now  quote 
from  Professor  Francis  A.  Walker's  "  International 
Bimetalism  " : 

"In  1696  the  urgency  of  the  monetary  situation 
of  Great  Britain  combined  with  the  influence  and 
authority  of  statesmen  and  philosophers  to  secure 
the  general  recoinage  of  silver,  both  according  to  the 
ancient  right  standard,  and  at  the  public  expense. 
The  debate  on  these  two  points  had  been  carried  on 
with  remarkable  power.  Never  before  in  England 
had  such  able  men  taken  part  in  the  discussion  of 
monetary  problems.  Lowndes,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  appeared  as  the  champion  of  the  scheme 
to  put  out  the  new  coin  at  something  like  an  average 
of  the  existing  coins.  He  proposed  to  coin  the  pound 


8 

of  standard  silver  into  seventy-seven  shillings  in 
place  of  sixty-two,  effecting  thus  a  reduction  of 
nearly  one  quarter.  He  argued  that  the  debasement 
had  been  long  in  progress,  that  prices  had  adapted 
themselves,  however  painfully  and  inadequately,  to 
the  state  of  the  coin,  that  contracts  for  goods,  for 
rents,  for  interest,  had  been  based  on  existing  prices, 
and  that  an  abrupt  return  to  the  former  measure 
would  work  injustice  to  debtors,  and  would  occasion 
an  unnecessary  disturbance  to  production  and  trade. 
John  Locke  stood  forth  as  the  champion  of  the 
'  ancient  right  standard,'  a  standard  of  intrinsic 
equivalency — indisputable  face  value.  Said  Mr. 
L<ocke : 

"  'The  multiplying  arbitrary  denominations  will 
no  more  supply  nor  in  any  ways  make  our  scarcity 
of  coin  commensurate  to  the  need  there  is  of  it  than 
if  the  cloth  which  was  provided  for  clothing  the  army, 
falling  short,  one  should  hope  to  make  it  commen- 
surate to  that  need  there  is  of  it  by  measuring  it  by 
a  yard  one  foot  shorter  than  the  stardard,  or  chang- 
ing the  standard  of  a  yard,  and  so  getting  the  full 
denominations  of  yards  necessary  according  to  the 
present  measure.  For  this  is  all  that  will  be  done 
by  raising  our  coin  as  is  proposed.  All  that  it 
amounts  to  is  no  more  than  this,  viz.:  that  each 
piece,  and  consequently  our  whole  stock  of  money, 
should  be  measured  and  denominated  by  a  penny 
one-fifth  less  than  the  standard. 

(< '  The  increase  of  denomination  does  or  can  do 
nothing  in  the  case  for  it  is  metal  by  its  quantity  and 
not  denomination  that  is  the  price  of  things  and  meas- 
ure of  commerce  ;  and  it  is  the  weight  of  metal  in  i£} 


and  not  the  name  of  the  pieces,  that  men  estimate  com- 
modities by  and  exchange  them  for. 

"  '  If  this  be  not  so,  when  the  necessity  of  our  affairs 
abroad  or  ill-husbandry  at  home  has  carried  away 
half  our  treasure  and  a  moiety  of  our  money  is  gone 
out  of  Bngland  it  is  but  to  issue  a  proclamation  that 
a  penny  shall  go  for  twopence,  sixpence  for  a  shilling, 
half  a  crown  for  a  crown,  etc.,  and  immediately, 
without  any  more  ado,  we  are  as  rich  as  before;  and, 
when  half  the  remainder  is  gone,  it  is  but  doing  the 
same  thing  again,  and  raising  the  denomination  anew, 
and  we  are  where  we  were,  and  so  on.' ' 

[I  have  hitherto  used  the  foregoing  extract  from 
Locke  because  it  is  the  foundation  of  sound  money.] 

"  Of  the  writings  of  the  great  philosopher  on 
this  occasion,  Macaulay  remarks:  '  It  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  in  any  of  his  writings,  even  in  those 
ingenious  and  deeply  meditated  chapters  on  language, 
which  form,  perhaps,  the  most  valuable  part  of  his 
Essays  on  the  Human  Understanding,  the  force  of 
his  mind  appears  more  conspicuously.'  The  highly 
honorable  decision  to  maintain  the  standard — invio- 
late— introduced  another  question  which  has  not 
been  of  equal  philosophical  interest,  but  which  was 
of  immense  practical  importance.  Who  should  bear 
the  loss?  In  the  coinage  of  1559,  in  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's time,  the  loss  from  abrasion,  clipping,  and 
sweating  had  been  thrown  upon  the  innocent  actual 
holders  of  the  coin,  and  government  had  even  real- 
ized some  profit  by  the  transaction.  In  the  recoinage 
of  King  William,  under  Locke,  the  treasury  assumed 
the  cost,  which  was  clearly  just,  since  the  money  had 
been  worn  during  the  public  use.  The  expense  of 


10 

the  great  work  was  nearly  three  millions  sterling. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  this  was  one  and  a  half 
times  the  ordinary  revenue  of  the  kingdom,  the 
magnitude  of  the  undertaking  will  be  appreciated." 

Edmund  Burke  said  that  "  Great  men  are  the 
guide-posts  and  marks  in  the  State.''  The  history 
of  the  ancient  right  standard  of  money  constitutes  an 
imperishable  memorial  to  the  conscience  and  genius 
of  John  Locke,  and  an  unerring  guide-post  of  the 
ages,  pointing  out  the  right  road  to  sound  finance. 

And  now  to  come  more  closely  to  the  text  of  this 
paper.  Said  Walter  Bagehot,  in  December,  1876  : 

''  We  have  written  much  this  year  on  the  subject 
of  silver,  but  we  have  hardly  referred  to  the  scheme 
which  some  persons  think  would  set  right  every- 
thing— the  scheme  of  universal  bimetalism.  But 
the  truth  is  that  we  regard  that  scheme  as  so  entirely 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  practical  finance  that  we 
did  not  think  it  worth  discussing,  and  we  only  dis- 
cuss it  now  because  we  continue  to  receive  ingenious 
pamphlets,  some  of  them  written  by  men  of  business, 
which  maintain  that  it  is  both  practicable  and  advis- 
able. We  shall  therefore  state  as  shortly  as  possible 
our  reasons  for  thinking  it  is  neither. 

"  The  plan  is,  that  by  means  of  an  '  international 
conference  '  or  otherwise,  all  nations  should  agree  to 
use  both  gold  and  silver  as  legal  tender  for  all 
amounts,  and  to  use  them  in  the  same  proportions, 
which  it  is  said  would  cure  any  evils  which  now 
arise  from  changes  in  the  relative  value  of  gold  and 
silver  and  in  the  cost  of  production  of  both  or  either 
of  them.  But  any  such  attempt  would  be  such  an 


If 

alteration  in  the  monetary  system  of  most  countries 
that  it  would  be  difficult  to  get  most  of  them  to  take 
it  into  consideration,  and  impossible  to  induce  many 
of  them  to  agree  to  it.  England,  for  example,  has  a 
currency  resting  solely  on  the  gold  standard;  it  suits 
her,  and  is  most  closely  united  to  her  mercantile 
and  banking  habits.  What  motive  is  there  that 
would  induce  her  to  alter  it?  You  cannot  even 
begin  an  argument  which  would  seem  to  have  a 
sufficiently  striking  sound.  And  the  effect  of  the 
bimetallic  system,  if  universal,  would  be  to  fill  the 
world  with  the  cheaper  metal  only.  But  this,  and 
other  characteristics,  whether  for  good  or  evil,  which 
may  belong  to  universal  bimetalism,  are  in  our 
judgment  scarcely  worth  considering ;  they  seem  to 
us  fit  only  for  theoretical  books,  because  the  plan  is 
only  a  theory  on  paper  and  will  never  be  in  practice 
tried." 

Thus  much  from  Mr.  Bagehot. 

One  of  the  favorite  arguments  of  silver  enthu- 
siasts, exploited  right  and  left,  has  been  Professor 
Stanley  Jevon's  reservoir  illustration  of  Wolloski's 
common  pool  theory  of  international  bimetalism. 
In  former  years  I  had  thought  it  a  curious  feature 
of  the  seemingly  plausible  illustration  of  an  inher- 
ently fallacious  economic  principle  that  a  writer  of 
Professor  Jevon's  analytical  turn  of  mind  should  not 
have  perceived  the  inapplicability  of  his  mechanical 
device — the  equalizing  reservoirs — to  a  principle  of 
economic  law.  It  was  my  impression  that  he  ought 
to  have  seen  that  no  common  faucet,  or,  as  Forssell 
of  Sweden  has  called  it,  no  common  bunghole,  would 


12 

satisfy  the  demand  upon  either  of  these  reservoirs, 
had  he  considered  that  they  were  not  only  subject  to 
independent  variations  of  supply  and  demand,  but 
that  they  might  contain  liquids  entirely  different  in 
nature,  as,  for  example,  molasses  and  petroleum, 
each  of  which  is  used  for  many  different  purposes 
that  the  other  could  not  serve.  The  principle  in- 
volved is  one  of  economic  law  and  cannot  be  illus- 
trated by  the  mere  statement  of  a  well-known  fact 
in  physics  that  water  will  seek  its  own  level.  How- 
ever, Professor  Jevon  modified  his  views,  for  in  chap- 
ter twelve  of  his  ''Investigations  in  Currency  and 
Finance,"  published  in  1884,  he  says: 

"The  notion  of  M.  Cernuschi  that  there  might 
be  a  congress  of  nations,  and  that  the  leading  com- 
mercial States  might  be  induced  to  unite  in  adopting 
bimetallic  money  is  chimerical.  Several  of  the  more 
important  European  nations  have  for  the  present  no 
hopes  of  using  coin,  whether  gold  or  silver.  Ger- 
many is  only  now  establishing  an  excellent  currency 
on  a  gold  basis,  and  is  most  unlikely  to  abandon  it 
without  further  trial.  The  Scandinavian  kingdoms 
have  no  reason  for  retracing  their  late  adoption  of 
gold,  which  has  done  no  harm.  Hven  France,  which 
has  still  the  law  of  the  double  standard  in  nominal 
existence,  shows  no  desire  to  put  it  into  operation 
again,  having  experienced  the  trouble  of  an  alternat- 
ing standard  and  a  heavy  silver  currency. 

''As  to  England,  there  is  not  the  most  remote 
chance  that  the  proposal  would  be  accepted  or  even 
entertained  here.  The  present  English  system  of 
metallic  money  has  now  existed  almost  unchanged 


since  1816,  and  it  has  worked  so  satisfactorily  in 
most  respects  that  it  would  require  very  strong  rea- 
sons for  making  a  fundamental  change.  Even  were 
there  a  considerable  weight  of  evidence  in  favor  of 
the  double  standard  it  would  probably  be  found 
impossible  to  persuade  the  House  of  Commons  to 
accept  it.  In  nothing  is  the  English  nation  so  con- 
servative as  in  matter  of  currency.  .  . 

"  If  the  United  States  were  to  adopt  the  double 
standard  they  would  throw  into  confusion  the  mone- 
tary relations  of  the  foremost  commercial  nations, 
while  the  universal  bimetalism  essential  to  the  suc- 
cess of  M.  Cernuschi's  schemes  would  be  as  far  dis- 
tant as  ever.  If,  indeed,  the  adopted  legal  ratio  of 
gold  and  silver  were  such  as  to  enable  gold  to  circu- 
late in  the  United  States,  then  no  effect  on  the  value 
of  silver  would  be  produced,  and  all  discussions 
would  end  in  nothing.  If  the  legal  ratio  were  15^ 
to  i,  as  proposed,  then  full  weight  gold  coins  could 
not  circulate,  and  the  currency  and  the  standard  of 
value  would  consist  of  silver  only.  American  trade 
would  be  hampered  by  a  money  fifteen  and  a  half 
times  as  heavy  as  it  need  be.  Americans  would  be 
loading  themselves  with  silver  fetters,  and  for  what 
purpose  ?  In  order  that  the  rest  of  the  world  might 
enjoy  the  superior  convenience  of  gold  money. 
While  other  advanced  nations  are  passing,  one  after 
another,  from  the  silver  age  of  currency  to  the  golden 
age,  America,  and  probably  America  alone,  would  be 
stepping  back  from  the  gold  age  into  the  silver  age. 
This  seems  to  me  about  as  wise  as  if  the  men  of  the 
bronze  age  had  solemnly  decided  to  reject  bronze,  and 
to  go  back  into  the  stone  age.  In  a  matter  of  this 
sort  we  must  take  account  of  general  and  long- 


continued  tendencies,  and  the  tendency  now  appears 
to  be  inevitably  toward  the  general  adoption  of  gold 
as  the  standard  money. 

14  If  America  could  establish  the  double  standard 
and  succeed  in  inducing  other  nations  to  do  so  like- 
wise, the  advantages  of  so  great  and  so  difficult  a 
measure  are  of  a  very  speculative  and  doubtful  kind. 
I  quite  concede  to  Messrs.  Wollowski  and  Cernuschi 
that  the  bimetallic  system  does  spread  fluctuations 
of  supply  and  demand  over  a  wider  area.  I  have  tried 
to  explain  in  my  book  on  '  Money  and  the  Mechan- 
ism of  Exchange,'  published  in  1875,  that  gold  and 
silver,  free  from  the  action  of  a  legal  ratio,  are  like 
two  unconnected  reservoirs  of  water,  each  liable  to 
be  raised  and  lowered  in  level  by  various  accidents. 
Establish  a  communication  between  these  reservoirs 
and  then  each  new  supply  spreads  itself  over  a  double 
area,  and  each  new  demand  is  supplied  with  less  effect 
upon  the  general  level.  The  legal  currency  ratio  of 
Z5X  to  i  actually  does  establish  a  communication  of 
this  sort  between  the  reservoirs  of  gold  and  silver  in 
the  world,  but  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  it  is 
desirable  to  establish  the  communication.  .  .  . 

"My  principal  purpose  is  accomplished  if  I  have 
adequately  expressed  the  strength  of  my  conviction 
that,  in  trying  to  establish  bimetallic  money,  the 
American  nation  would  be  setting  themselves  against 
irresistible  natural  tendencies  so  as  to  insure  defeat. 
For  the  sake  of  making  those  richer  who  are  rich 
already  they  would  be  loading  themselves  with 
heavy  metal,  which,  if  it  is  to  be  abundant,  had  bet- 
ter be  left  to  other  uses  or  to  those  Eastern  nations 
who  are  too  poor  and  ignorant  to  employ  gold.  It  is 


15 

the  general  rule  in  commerce  to  take  care  of  '  num- 
ber one,'  but  in  the  bimetallic  scheme  the  rule  is 
reversed,  and  '  number  one '  is  asked  to  carry  silver 
coin  in  order  to  benefit  '  number  two '  and  *  number 
three.' '  Thus  much  from  Professor  Jevons. 

Mr.  Henry  D.  MacLeod,  in  his  "  Bimetalism," 
says: 

;'The  assertion  of  the  bimetalists,  upon  which 
their  whole  case  rests,  that  it  is  possible  to  regulate 
the  value  of  gold  and  silver  by  international  agree- 
ment is  flatly  contradicted  by 

"  i.     The  history  of  birnetalisin  in  every  country. 

"2.  The  unanimous  arguments  of  Oresme,  Co- 
pernicus, Gresham,  Petty,  Locke,  Harms,  Steuart, 
Lord  Liverpool,  the  Government  of  India,  the  British 
Government,  and  hosts  of  other  experienced  persons 
who  had  the  consequences  of  bimetalism  before 
their  eyes. 

"3.  After  attempting  to  maintain  bimetalism 
for  centuries  every  State  in  Europe  has  found  itself 
forced  to  abandon  it  as  impracticable  and  injurious." 

In  Mr.  Thomas  Lloyd's  "  Bimetalism  Examined" 
we  find : 

"  Practically  silver  has  ceased  to  be  a  standard 
of  value  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  this  has 
simply  and  solely  been  in  consequence  of  a  slow 
change  in  the  opinion  of  the  world.  The  bimetal- 
ists deny  that  the  world  has  changed  its  opinion  in 
the  manner  here  stated.  They  allege  that  the 
whole  change  has  been  made  by  the  governments, 
and  not  by  the  people.  If  bimetalists  mean  by  this 


i6 

that  the  great  body  of  the  people  have  not  troubled 
their  heads  about  the  matter,  I  am  not  inclined  to 
dispute  the  statement.  But  if  they  mean  that  the 
governments  acted  on  their  own  initiative,  and  not 
because  of  the  impulse  given  by  the  commercial 
classes,  then  I  entirely  disagree  with  them.  Govern- 
ments, however  meddlesome  in  other  matters,  are 
always  very  careful  how  they  interfere  in  business 
arrangements,  and  especially  in  monetary  arrange- 
ments, and  they  do  interfere  finally  only  because 
they  are  compelled  to  do  so  by  the  pressure  of  the 
classes  specially  interested. 

"  The  fact  remains  that  one  civilized  country  after 
another  has  demonetized  silver  and  adopted  the  gold 
standard,  and  there  is  no  answer  to  that.  This  is 
the  real  and  conclusive  argument  against  the  bimet- 
alists.  For  over  a  century  the  world  has  been 
moving,  country  by  country,  steadily  in  one  direc- 
tion, and  it  is  useless  to  talk  of  turning  it  back. 
Opinion  has  settled  the  matter,  and  opinion  is  sover- 
eign, not  only  in  matters  of  policy,  but  in  matters  of 
economy  also.  If  the  bimetalists  choose  to  say  that 
opinion  is  wrong,  that  the  world  is  ill-advised,  that 
the  whole  movement  has  been  a  mistake,  they,  of 
course,  have  a  perfect  right  to  their  view  of  the  mat- 
ter. But  they  do  not  alter  the  facts,  and  they  cannot 
alter  the  facts  by  any  amount  of  preaching. 

"It  is  impossible,  by  any  arrangement  what- 
soever, to  maintain  indefinitely  a  fixed  ratio  of  value 
between  any  two  commodities,  let  them  be  metals,  or 
let  them  be  what  you  please.  And  it  is  noteworthy 
that  no  speaker  in  the  Brussels'  Bimetallic  Confer- 
ence of  1892  ventured  to  offer  any  detailed  scheme 
showing  how  the  idea  could  be  carried  out.  No  one 


ventured,  either,  to  take  a  vote  on  the  ratio  to  be 
fixed. 

"  The  real  scientific  opinion  of  England  is  against 
bimetalism,  and  will  continue  to  be  opposed  to  it. 
Further,  it  seems  incredible  that  Germany,  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Russia  will  throw  away  the  fruits  of 
their  sacrifices  and  all  their  efforts  to  get  together 
a  great  gold  reserve.  No  country  could  bind  itself 
forever-and-a-day  to  maintain  bimetalism.  And  if 
the  Union  were  to  be  formed,  and  were  to  be  compul- 
sory only  for  a  few  years,  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  bankers  would  accept  depreciated  silver  instead 
of  the  appreciated  gold  to  which  they  are  entitled  ? 

"  If  every  great  nation  in  the  world  were  to  enter 
into  a  bimetallic  convention  for  a  definite  number  of 
years,  bankers  in  the  great  commercial  centers,  and 
especially  the  bankers  of  London,  would  refuse  to 
accept  silver  and  hold  it  in  their  reserves,  and  the 
convention  would  break  down  as  certainly  as  the 
Sherman  experiment  failed  in  the  United  States. 

"  Bimetalists  insist  that  if  England  will  lead  the 
way  all  the  other  countries  will  immediately  follow; 
bimetalists  will  not  see  that,  even  if  the  Govern- 
ments could  be  persuaded,  there  would  still  be  the 
bankers  to  deal  with,  that  bimetalism  could  be 
adopted  only  for  a  definite  number  of  years,  that 
therefore  the  danger  would  remain  that  it  might 
come  to  an  end  by  and  by,  and  as  long  as  a  fear  of 
that  kind  existed  people  would  cling  more  tena- 
ciously than  ever  to  their  gold  contracts.  From 
every  point  of  view,  then,  bimetalism  is  impossible. 
It  could  not  be  made  to  work  if  adopted.  It  will  not 
be  adopted  because  the  governments  cannot  be  per- 
suaded to  fall  in  with  it,  and  if  the  governments 


18 

could  be  persuaded  it  would  be  rejected  by  the  bank- 
ers, and  still  more  decisively  would  it  be  rejected  by 
investors. 

u  We  have  to  accept  accomplished  facts,  and  it  is 
an  accomplished  fact  that  opinion  has  pronounced 
decisively  against  silver  and  for  gold.  And  it  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  in  matters  economic,  opinion 
is  as  supreme  as  in  matters  political. 

"The  only  argument  bimetalists  have  is  refer- 
ence to  the  Latin  Union,  viz.:  French  bimetalism, 
which  lasted  barely  seventy  years — 1803  to  1873, 
when  it  utterly  broke  down,  and  free  coinage  had  to 
be  suspended.  The  ratio  between  gold  and  silver 
was  not  strictly  maintained,  and  the  bimetallic  sys- 
tem did  not  prevent  wide  variations.  What  it  really 
did  was  to  facilitate  the  transition  from  one  mone- 
tary system  to  another.  Bimetalism,  in  its  very 
nature,  is  a  temporary  makeshift  which  is  useful  in 
a  transition  period,  but  which  must  inevitably  break 
down  when  a  certain  evolution  has  been  accom- 
plished. 

"Evidence  given  by  N.  M.  Rothschild,  Esq., 
before  the  Committee  on  the  Bank  of  England  Char- 
ter, July  24,  1832  :  'Question:  Does  the  demand  for 
gold  from  France  produce  a  scarcity  of  money  in 
France  ?  Answer :  No.  Question  :  Why  is  that  ? 
Answer :  Because  gold  is  generally  in  private  hands ; 
it  is  merchandise  there.' 

"Up  to  1848  bimetalism  was  not  operative  in 
France,  gold  was  not  in  circulation;  it  was  mere 
merchandise,  held  only  by  private  individuals. 
So  French  bimetalism  was  never  operative.  Up 
to  1848  France  was  a  silver-using  country;  after- 
wards it  became  gold  using.  A  conclusive  proof 


19 

that  bimetalism  was  quite  ineffectual  is  afforded  by 
the  fact  that  the  instant  Germany  demonetized  and 
proceeded  to  sell  her  silver  French  bimetalism  broke 
down.  Both  in  the  United  States  and  in  India  we 
have  had  lessons  as  to  how  tampering  with  the  cur- 
rency may  injure  the  prosperity  of  great  countries. 
What  happened  in  the  United  States  would  happen 
in  Europe  if  bimetalism  were  adopted.  The  banks 
would  refuse  to  hold  silver  in  their  reserves;  silver 
coin  consequently  could  not  be  forced  into  circula- 
tion, and,  that  being  so,  I  ask  once  more  how  the 
bimetalists  propose  that  the  value  of  silver  should 
be  raised  if  universal  bimetalism  was  adopted  ?  If 
the  value  of  gold  under  a  bimetallic  arrangement 
were  not  greatly  reduced  the  condition  of  all  the 
world  would  be  similar  to  the  condition  of  the  Latin 
Union  and  the  United  States.  Gold  would  practi- 
cally remain  the  standard  of  value,  and  silver  would 
be  a  subsidiary  money,  no  matter  what  hocus-pocus 
were  applied.  How,  then,  would  the  bimetalists 
lower  materially  the  value  of  gold  ?  The  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  expressly  declares  the  free- 
dom of  contract  inviolable.  Therefore  if  the  United 
States  is  to  be  a  party  to  bimetalism  freedom  of  con- 
tract in  the  fullest  sense  must  be  maintained.  Con- 
sequently all  the  existing  contracts  for  payment  in 
gold  would  remain  valid  and  enforceable,  and  every 
one  would  be  free  in  the  future  to  enter  into  similar 
contracts.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the 
bimetalists  have  never  thought  out  the  subject  at 
all.  They  have  taken  up  the  extraordinary  notion 
that  opening  of  the  mints  provides  a  market."  [If  it 
provided  anything  it  would  be  warehouses  for  storing 
the  unused  metal.] 

Thus  much  from  Mr.  Lloyd. 


20 

Professor  Taussig  in  his  ''  Silver  Situation  in  the 
United  States,''  says : 

fi  Distinguished  economists  have  urged  interna- 
tional agreements  for  the  wider  use  of  silver,  and 
have  deprecated  independent  action  by  any  one 
nation.  But  the  more  thorough-going  advocates  of 
free  silver  in  the  United  States  say,  certainly  with 
much  force,  that  an  international  agreement  has 
proved  to  be  simply  impracticable,  and  that  if  the 
wider  use  of  silver  is  to  be  deferred  until  there  is 
concerted  action  by  the  great  nations,  it  will  never 
come,  and  certainly  it  is  true  that  the  scheme  for  In- 
ternational Bimetalism  has  practically  no  prospect 
of  adoption." 

Thus  much  from  Professor  Taussig. 

I  shall  now  apply  extracts  from  Horton's  "  Silver 
in  Europe  "  : 

''If  submitting  these  remarks  shall  arouse  a 
sense  of  the  realities  of  the  struggle  in  progress, 
then  at  least  it  can  be  said  of  these  disjointed  pages 
that,  though  the  road  be  a  rough  one,  still,  as  the 
French  idiom  has  it,  '  we  arrive.'  Let  me  mark 
here,  points  which  it  may  prove  peculiarly  useful  to 
dwell  upon  at  this  juncture,  when  the  air  is  full  of 
talk  of  an  international  conference.  Europeans  will 
never  agree  to  the  free  coinage  of  silver  merely 
because  Americans  wish  them  to  do  so  ;  an  interna- 
tional conference  having,  as  such,  no  original  power 
to  establish  a  coinage  system. 

''  The  opposition  to  the  silver  movement  is 
usually  painted  in  deceptive  colors.  The  language 
of  eloquence  and  of  passion  before  many  a  constitu- 


21 


ency  has  presented  an  indictment  against  the  origi- 
nators of  the  anti-silver  laws  of  Europe,  and  against 
its  apologists  to-day,  as  well  as  against  the  partisans 
of  gold  in  this  country — an  indictment  for  conspiracy 
against  the  rest  of  mankind.  This  untenable  in- 
dictment is  a  great  compliment  to  the  foresight  and 
power  of  organization  of  the  supporters  of  the  gold 
standard. 

' '  Of  course  special  interests,  and  short  views 
about  them,  affect  opinion,  and  naturally  they  have 
played  their  part  here.  In  a  broad  sense  anti-silver 
legislation  was  adopted  to  satisfy  opinion  based  upon 
avowed  and  legitimate  interests  represented  in  public. 
Everywhere,  in  every  country,  those  learned  in 
monetary  matters  were  avowed  inspirers  of  the 
movement  against  silver,  believing  that  they  were 
right. 

''  It  was  upon  the  incitation,  and  with  the  approval 
of  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  learned  of  all 
nations  that  the  anti-silver  statutes  and  decrees  in 
divers  nations  became  fact.  Americans  must  take  to 
heart  that  for  this  general  policy  the  United  States 
has  its  share  of  responsibility,  for  in  1867  the  influ- 
ence of  the  American  Union  in  the  family  of  nations 
was  militant  in  Paris,  aiding  and  abetting  the  anti- 
silver  movements  then  organizing.  And  all  was 
done  with  the  best  intentions,  and  under  the  advice 
of  counsel  recognized  as  learned  in  the  law. 

"  These  anti-silver  laws,  whose  effects  we  have 
been  called  upon  to  consider  were  not  adopted  with- 
out deliberation.  The  advice  of  counsel  was  taken, 
men  of  action  submitted  to  men  of  thought,  and  the 
advising  counsel  were  the  learned  of  a  generation. 
It  was  the  general  consensus  of  the  learned  opinion 


22 

of  the  time  which  these  laws  were  intended  to  reflect. 
The  republic  of  monetary  learning — an  imperium  in 
imperils,  an  economic  church  which  respects  no 
national  boundaries — was  unanimous.  It  believed  in 
the  unification  of  money — in  security  of  valuations, 
in  simplification  of  the  means  of  exchange,  in  facili- 
tating international  trade  and  investment — an  aim 
nobly  in  unison  with  the  progressive  spirit  of  an  age 
whose  glory  it  is  already  to  have  made  giant  strides 
in  this  direction,  by  putting  nature's  forces  in  har- 
ness, as  well  as  by  cultivating  the  faculties  of  men. 
This  was  the  aim,  the  object,  the  end.  What  could 
be  more  worthy  ?  " 

Thus  much  from  Mr.  Horton. 

Again  quoting  Walter  Bagehot,  November  14, 
1868,  he  said: 

"A  universal  currency  must  be  founded  on  a 
single  standard,  not  on  a  double.  A  contract  to  pay 
a  sum  of  money  shall  be  satisfied  only  by  the  pay- 
ment of  a  specified  portion  of  one  known  metal ;  if 
gold,  by  so  much  gold,  if  silver,  then  by  so  much 
silver.  Under  the  contrary  system,  that  of  a  so- 
called  double  standard,  the  contract  may  be  satisfied 
in  two  ways ;  the  debtor  has  an  alternative — he  may 
pay  either  so  much  gold  or  so  much  silver  as  he 
likes,  and  therefore  there  are  two  chances  for  depre- 
ciation. Whichever  metal  declines  in  value  the 
debtor  is  sure  to  select,  and  that  metal  so  impaired 
the  creditor  must  receive.  A  kind  of  mist  floats  over 
some  minds  ;  they  fancy  that  by  using  a  currency  of 
two  metals  they  evade  the  danger  of  depreciation  of 
either,  but  they  really  risk  the  depreciation  of 


BOTH  ;  the  impaired  will  always  be  preferred  be- 
cause it  IS  impaired,  because  it  is  cheaper. 

"  A  new  coinage  to  suit  present  commerce  must 
have  a  high  GOLD  UNIT.  Silver  is  the  character- 
istic currency  of  early  nations  and  poor  nations;  by 
comparison  it  is  plentiful,  and  therefore  cheap  ;  the 
small  amounts  which  early  trade  required  were  best 
paid  in  it,  and  therefore  it  was  used.  But  now  large 
transactions  require  a  DEAR  paying  medium;  the 
more  costly  the  unit,  the  fewer  the  pieces  to  be 
counted  and  the  easier  the  use  of  the  currency." 

Bear  in  mind  that  just  previous  to  this  brief  ex- 
tract from  Mr.  Bagehot  I  have  been  applying  the 
words  of  the  ablest  American  bimetalist,  Mr.  S. 
Dana  Horton,  and  he  says : 

"  In  fairness  I  may  confess  that  the  keynote  of 
what  I  have  been  saying  was  given  me  by  one  of  the 
highest  names  in  the  camp  of  the  opposition  and  in 
the  literature  of  money,  for  Michel  Chevalier  is 
among  the  prophets  for  all  who  have  a  monetary 
faith.  During  the  Monetary  Conference  of  1878, 
Michel  Chevalier,  speaking  of  the  subject  of  the  Con- 
ference, said  words  which  remain  and  always  will 
remain  in  my  memory  :  "  You  will  never  succeed  in 
converting  Engla  nd. ' ' 

Thus  much  from  Mr.  Horton. 

Now  I  wish  to  add  to  this  that  the  array  of 
French  economists  and  financiers  opposed  to  inter- 
national bimetalism  is  larger  than  that  of  Great 
Britain :  Chevalier,  Levasseur,  Frederick  Passy, 
Fournier  de  Flaix,  Duy  Puynode,  Clement  Juglar, 


24 

Mannequin,  Cochnt,  the  Messrs.  Coste,  Baisse, 
Parieu,  Permez,  D'Avenal,  the  two  Says,  Leon  and 
J.  B.,  Tirard,  Beaulieu,  des  Essars,  and  others  ;  in  fact 
every  French  economist  of  national  repute  of  this 

• 

generation. 

Now  a  word  as  to  the  amount  of  silver  that  can 
be  got  into  circulation,  and  I  call  your  especial  atten- 
tion to  the  admission  of  Mr.  Geo.  J.  Goshen,  Chan- 
cellor of  the  British  Exchequer,  and  Mr.  Dana  Hor- 
ton,  one  of  the  United  States'  Commissioners  to  the 
Silver  Congress  of  1878,  of  the  lack  of  power  of  a 
government  in  such  matters.  The  ability  of  a 
country  to  "  absorb"  silver  is  the  burden  of  the  song 
of  some  of  the  silver  sirens.  A  few  facts,  particu- 
larly as  to  experiences,  especially  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  "  absorbing  "  silver  may  be  not 
only  interesting  but  instructive.  To  listen  to  the 
clamor  of  silver  advocates  one  would  not  only  sup- 
pose there  is  a  universal  desire  for  more  silver,  but 
that  the  people  are  weeping  and  wailing  for  it. 

Mr.  Goshen  said: 

"  I  know  there  is  considerable  stir  and  anxiety 
upon  the  part  of  other  countries.  I  know  there  is 
considerable  desire  for  a  conference.  I  am  anxious 
for  the  increased  use  of  silver,  and,  personally — I 
am  speaking  without  communication  with  my  col- 
leagues of  the  Bank  of  England  on  the  subject — I 
have  been  always  anxious  to  see  the  use  of  silver 
extended  as  far  as  it  could  be  done  compatibly  with 
our  general  arrangements. 


25 

"  Now  I  want  you  to  understand  this — probably 
you  do  understand  it,  but  I  want  the  public  to  do 
so — that  the  Government,  as  a  government,  has  no 
power  to  force  any  particular  kind  of  circulation  on  the 
country.  The  letters  I  have  received  about  the  supply 
of  silver,  for  example,  have  been  innumerable. 
'  Why  don't  you  let  us  have  more  silver  ? '  Good 
heavens,  I  wish  every  one  would  take  as  much  silver 
as  possible,  considering  the  enormous  profit  the 
Exchequer  makes  by  it.  We  have  untold  sums  at 
the  Bank  of  England  and  at  the  Mint  waiting  to  be 
circulated,  anxious  to  travel,  but  they  are  not  invited. 
I  do  not  know  who  the  persons  are  who  do  not  ex- 
tend the  invitation  to  these  silver  coins  to  pay  a  visit 
to  the  country,  but  at  all  events  some  of  those  who 
spread  the  circulation  of  the  country — all  of  them — 
have  got  far  more  power  to  determine  what  circulation 
there  shall  be  in  the  country  than  the  Government" 
Thus  much  from  Mr.  Goshen. 

Says  Mr.  Dana  Horton,  in  his  "  Silver  in 
Europe  "  : 

"The  people  of  the  United  States  do  not  take  to 
the  silver  dollar  very  kindly.  They  do  not  seem  to 
want  more  than  one  apiece,  per  capita,  for  their 
pockets,  their  tills,  and  their  strong-boxes.  They 
persist  in  'treating  silver  as  a  commodity.'  How- 
ever inconvenient  this  fact  may  be,  it  can  only  be 
dealt  with  as  a  fact.  It  is  futile  to  try  to  explain 
it  away.  The  fact  is  fact.  Silver  certificates  are 
not  silver  dollars,  and  can  no  more  be  made  into  sil- 
ver dollars  than  orange-peel  water  can  be  made  into 
wine  by  stress  of  imagination.  Silver  dollars  have 
been  within  reach  for  eleven  years  ( Mr.  Horton  was 
writing  in  1889);  halves  and  quarters  have  been 


26 

within  reach  still  longer.  Yet  there  are  twenty-two 
million  of  dollars  of  silver  change  that  have  been 
losing  interest  for  many  years  as  a  '  dead  asset '  in 
the  Treasury.  I  have  never  heard  that  the  Treas- 
ury has  interposed  any  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a 
demand  for  silver  dollars,  as  compared  with  other 
current  money.  We  must  accept  the  books  of  the 
Treasury  as  a  record  of  the  people's  will.  In  the 
last  four  years  there  have  been  about  sixty  millions 
of  silver  dollars  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  I  know 
of  no  indication  that  a  change  of  habit  is  to  enlarge 
the  use  of  them." 

Thus  much  from  Mr.  Horton. 
In  the  summer  of  1892  the  United  States  Senate 
asked  the  Director  of  the  Mint  what  was  the  number 
of  standard  silver  dollars  then  in  circulation,  and  the 
answer  was,  56,779,484.  The  Senate  further  asked 
what  was  the  number  of  standard  silver  dollars  then 
in  the  Treasury.  The  answer  was,  357,189,251. 
Thus  in  the  fourteen  years  immediately  following 
the  passage  of  the  Bland-Allison  Act  barely  one- 
seventh  of  the  legal  tender  dollars  coined  under  that 
Act  had  been  got  into  circulation,  in  spite  of  all  the 
efforts  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of 
America. 

Professor  Taussig,  writing  in  1893,  said: 
"  The  Government  has  made  every  effort  to  get 
the  silver  dollar  coins  out  of  its  hands.  Congress 
has  annually  appropriated  a  sum  to  enable  the 
Treasury  Department  to  ship  them,  free  of  expense, 
to  all  applicants  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  premium  so  offered  to  persons  who  have  occasion 


27 

to  use  money  in  small  denominations,  and  especially 
to  employers  having  large  pay-rolls,  has  sometimes 
led  to  considerable  call  for  them.  But  the  great 
bulk  of  the  coins  thus  got  out  of  the  Treasury  return 
to  it  almost  at  once.  The  employees  to  whom  they 
are  paid  get  rid  of  them  as  fast  as  they  make  pur- 
chases ;  the  shopkeepers  in  whose  tills  they  accumu- 
late, finding  their  customers  averse  to  taking  them  in 
change,  turn  them  into  the  banks  on  deposit  and  the 
banks  finally  turn  them  into  the  nearest  sub-treas- 
ury in  payment  of  public  dues.  The  round  trip 
from  Treasury  back  to  Treasury  is  easily  made  in 
some  districts  in  the  course  of  a  single  week.'1 

Now  let  us  consider  the  situation  since  1893  : 

Population.  ^5111    ^r  Capita. 


November  1,  1893 

67,426,000 

58,725,818 

0.87 

November  1,  1894 

68,887,000 

56,443,670 

0.82 

November  1,  1895 

70,378,000 

58,354,092 

0.83 

November  1,  1896 

71,902,000 

58,190,802 

0.81 

March         1,  1897 

72,418,800 

55,378,762 

0.76 

April           1,  1897 

72,547,000 

54,507,319 

0.75 

The  facts  cited  constitute  a  striking  example  of 
the  truth  that  the  quantity  of  metallic  money  that 
can  be  put  into  circulation  is  limited,  and  it  is  also 
a  fact  that  the  360,000,000  of  silver  dollars  piled  up 
in  the  U.  S.  Treasury  have  really  no  more  monetary 
efficiency  than  coal  or  iron. 

The  largest  number  of  silver  dollars  in  circula- 
tion in  the  United  States  at  any  given  time  was 
November  i,  1890,  viz.:  65,709,564,  at  which  date 
the  population  was  estimated  at  63,200,000,  which 
would  give  a  per  capita  of  silver  dollars  in  circula- 
tion of  $1.04. 


28 

Senator  Wolcott  is  quoted  herein  as  alleging  that 
if  a  solution  is  not  found  for  the  question  of  Interna- 
tional Bimetalism  the  next  election  in  the  United 
States  will  go  for  free  silver.  In  view  of  all  the  facts 
this  reminds  nie  of  an  amusing  example  in  the 
grammar,  in  use  when  I  was  a  boy,  of  the  misuse  of 
words:  "A  man  upon  falling  into  a  slough  cried 
lustily:  "I  will  drown!  nobody  shall  help  me!" 
You,  gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  can  make  your 
own  application. 

Now,  then,  a  few  concluding  remarks  as  to  our 
duty: 

Every  unjust  or  unwise  measure  that  receives 
consideration  at  the  hands  of  our  legislators  ought 
to  be  stoutly  opposed.  To  permit  such  measures  to 
become  law  without  an  intelligent  and  vigorous 
protest  must  suggest  to  the  legislators  a  state  of 
indifference  to  or  contempt  of  their  action  on  the  part 
of  those  affected  thereby,  and  an  impression  of  either 
kind  once  made  upon  their  minds  is  sure  to  be  fruit- 
ful of  mischief  sooner  or  later. 

In  an  admirable  pamphlet  by  Mr.  Lewis  Hancock, 
an  Austin,  Texas,  banker,  published  last  year,  he  set 
forth  pertinently  the  importance  of  the  banking 
interest,  speaking  out  boldly  and  unreservedly  regard- 
ing the  monetary  affairs  of  the  country,  as  follows : 

"  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  our  duty  as  bankers  to 
take  up  the  burden  of  the  fray.  We,  as  bankers,  are 
no  more  interested  in  this  struggle  than  the  mer- 
chants, the  farmers,  and  the  laborers.  But  as  citi- 


29 

zens  of  a  great  and  prosperous  country  we  are  all 
vitally  interested." 

You  all  know  how  candidly  I  expressed  myself 
throughout  the  last  year's  campaign  upon  questions 
affecting  the  public  interest.  My  experience  has 
taught  me  that  the  average  member  of  a  legislative 
body,  same  as  other  men,  likes  to  have  the  respect 
shown  him  which  is  due  to  an  intelligent,  reasonable 
citizen,  and  will  take  kindly  to  suggestions  regarding 
things  he  is  expected  to  deal  with  in  his  representa- 
tive capacity.  I  have  found  after  forty  odd  years 
of  active  business  that  the  average  legislator  is 
amenable  to  truth  and  reason  ;  that  you  can  convince 
him  with  arguments  founded  upon  honesty  and 
fairness.  Hence,  as  aforesaid,  I  do  not  believe  in 
letting  any  unjust,  measures  become  law  without 
sturdy  opposition — that  will  leave  law-makers  no 
pretext  for  inferring  indifference  or  contempt. 
Neither  of  these  dispositions  in  regard  to  any  matter 
affecting  public  interest  is  proper  or  just,  or  respect- 
ful to  them  or  to  the  people  who  chose  them  as 
their  representatives.  Yet  this  respectful  attitude  of 
mind  is  not  easy  of  attainment  when  one  remembers 
that  of  nearly  three  hundred  Congressmen  who 
recently  voted  on  this  question  only  three  had  the 
courage  and  candor  to  point  out  the  futility  and  dis- 
honesty of  the  whole  delusive  scheme  of  Interna- 
tional Bimetalism. 

If  Congress  would  go  to  work  and  reconstruct  on 
scientific  principles  our  monetary  agglomeration — 


30 

for  I  repeat  it  cannot  be  called  a  system — definitely 
affirm  the  payment  of  all  obligations  on  the  basis  of 
the  gold  standard,  retire  the  greenbacks,  and  let 
banks,  under  proper  restrictions  and  safeguards, 
issue  circulating  notes,  such  action  would  go  a  long 
way  toward  renewed  industrial  and  commercial  ac- 
tivity. If  the  present  administration  and  Congress 
do  not  act  courageously,  intelligently  and  definitely — 
but  permit  things  to  drift — the  fiatists  will  not  be 
slow  to  take  advantage  of  the  situation.  Congress 
and  the  Administration  cannot  escape  responsibility. 
They  may  as  well  prepare,  and  promptly  prepare,  to 
meet  "the  wild  and  many  weaponed  throng"  of  sil- 
ver inflationists  who  are  marching  behind  the  tat- 
tered stalking-horse  of  International  Bimetalism. 

The  Bankers  Association  constitutes  a  van- 
guard in  the  march  of  progress.  Let  not  the  national 
escutcheon  of  a  proud  and  noble  people  be  smirched 
or  soiled  by  the  indelible  blot  of  repudiation.  See  to 
it  that  the  citadel  of  civic  liberty  and  national  honor 
is  ever  held  by  the  legions  unswerving  in  fidelity 
to  the  supremacy  of  law  and  order,  and  that  from  its 
ramparts  are  kept  floating  the  banner,  unsullied  and 
invincible,  of  the  ancient-right  standard,  a  standard 
of  intrinsic  equivalency. 

' '  Nor  heed  the  shaft  too  surely  cast, 

The  foul  and  hissing  bolt  of  scorn; 
For! with  thy  side  shall  dwell,  at  last, 
The  victory  of  endurance  born." 


